Snow slows traffic to a crawl, or a slide

Wednesday

Nov 7, 2012 at 1:00 PMNov 7, 2012 at 10:31 PM

A fast-moving snowstorm left just enough snow to wreak havoc on local roads today, creating gridlock and spurring spinouts during the afternoon commute. There was an 11-car pileup at Chester and West Chester streets. At Pleasant and Moreland streets, a school bus ended up in a backyard.

By Steven H. Foskett Jr. TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A fast-moving snowstorm left just enough snow to wreak havoc on local roads this evening, creating gridlock and spurring spinouts during the afternoon commute.

The most spectacular of dozens of accidents that happened after about 3:30 p.m. was a bus that ended up in a backyard at Pleasant and Moreland streets.

David Kieko said he was watching television with his children when he heard a loud noise. He looked outside and saw a tree falling, then saw a full-size yellow school bus behind it.

Fearing another tree would fall into the house at 993 Pleasant St., Mr. Kieko said, he sent his children into the basement.

He said he watched as firefighters and paramedics helped the driver out. He said she was evaluated by an ambulance crew and did not appear to have suffered serious injuries. Worcester public schools officials said it was a St. Peter-Marian bus and was not carrying students at the time.

The corner of the steep hill and busy street is a magnet for bad-weather fender benders, but this was a first for Mr. Kieko.

“Nothing like this,” he said.

According to police scanner reports, most of the accidents throughout the rush hour appeared minor. Multiple-car pileups popped up at many intersections, including Belmont Street and Walnut Street.

State police lowered the speed limit to 40 mph on the Massachusetts Turnpike west of the Westboro tolls at Interstate 495.

A Mercedes-Benz sedan was facing the wrong way on an icy slope on Webster Street,and an off-duty Worcester police officer parked his truck and tried to persuade drivers to turn around.

Traffic snarled at nearly every intersection in the city; cars randomly spun out. Route 9 in Leicester was at a standstill in late afternoon.

Robert L. Moylan, the Worcester director of public works and parks, said crews started to pre-treat the roads just after 3 p.m., and he said salt trucks were out by 3:30 to 3:45 p.m. He said a number of accidents on Interstate 290 around that time spilled traffic onto local roads. He said that clogged up Belmont Street (Route 9), which he described as one of the city's most important roads in terms of avoiding gridlock.

The backups spread to downtown and probably made possible some of the many accidents that happened during that time. Mr. Moylan said travel on main arteries, “for the most part, was negotiable.”

He said crews would be working all night treating roads, and he urged motorists to continue to use caution.

“I think it was a confluence of a few things,” Mr. Moylan said. “The conditions were just right for the precipitation that fell to instantly freeze, and that instantaneously created icy conditions throughout the city, which created a) traffic, and b) all those accidents because of the road conditions.”

According to National Grid, 650 electricity customers in Worcester lost power tonight. The estimated restoration time was 1:45 a.m.

The city was expected to get a couple of inches of snow today and another couple of inches from midnight to 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Worcester after-school and evening programs were canceled today. High school tournament games are being rescheduled.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for Central Massachusetts that went into effect at 2 this afternoon and was expected to expire at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

Snow began at mid-afternoon and was accompanied by wind gusts of up to 45 mph, according to forecasters.

Snow and freezing rain were expected to fall before 3 a.m., then rain for a couple of hours, before switching back to freezing rain after 5 a.m.

Linda Bock of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report.